I was waiting for happier circumstances and more suitable conditions in the country for me to come to the microphone to place before you a few thoughts, but fate has ruled otherwise, and it is my painful duty to speak to you tonight in conditions which are tragic beyond words. It is thus with a heavy heart and in obedience to the call of duty that I have decided to say a few words.
Almost a month ago, we were all celebrating with unparalleled enthusiasm and joyfulness, one of the most momentous events in any country’s history, namely the celebration of our hard-won freedom from foreign domination.
Our joy on the occasion of these celebrations was somewhat subdued by the tragic events that were taking place elsewhere in some parts of the country. Horror and atrocities were being perpetrated, but they were so circumscribed that we had hoped that we would be able to isolate them in that restricted area.
But the area has since then widened, and the frenzy and intensity of communal violence have overtaken men, women and children over a wide stretch of territory. Untold human sufferings and unspeakable brutalities have been inflicted. In short, there has been a virtual slaughter of innocents, of which we shall have to revert to the Middle Ages to find a historical parallel.
Like an avalanche, the savagery has swept with it human beings, cattle, dwelling houses, spreading wanton desolation and destruction in its wake. Let not anyone remain under the impression that we are not fully alive to the dimensions of sufferings and misery that have been inflicted on our unfortunate brothers and sisters on the other side. What stares us darkly in the face is not only these sufferings and miseries, but also the fight of countless men, women and children stranded there, which is still in the balance and of which we, no less than the neighbouring government, are likely to be the arbiters. They look to us to rise to the occasion. This stupendous task is going to consume every ounce of our energy and every bit of our resources.
To place any obstacle in the way of its fulfilment or to divert our attention from it involves playing with the lives of millions of men, women and children who are lying in hourly peril and whose patience and resistance are wearing away every moment. I do fully appreciate the feelings of those who have taken refuge with us, the feelings of anger that rule their mind, the amount of bitterness that has affected their outlook, and the depth of sorrow that afflicts their heart. I can assure them that they alone do not harbour these feelings, but they have affected a very large number of their fellow countrymen.
But at the same time, they should remember that neither retaliation nor revenge can assist us in the supreme task that we have set ourselves, and that if thousands of lives are to be saved, and if we have to succeed in bringing to safety and shelter thousands of those who are stranded in unsafe pockets on the other side, it is essential that we are allowed to function at ten times the normal efficiency.
Our ranks are depleted, our resources are yet unorganised, and our position is yet not fully stabilised. To ensure requisite efficiency, therefore, our governmental machinery, which has been subjected to severe shock of sudden Partition on purely communal lines, has to be readjusted and reorganised and has to be keyed up to the required pitch.
In addition, we have to organise voluntary services without which no undertaking of such dimensions can have any chance of success. It is in these circumstances that I make this appeal to you all to contribute your utmost to the maintenance of law and order and essential services in this capital city. Delhi is not only the nerve center of administration, it has also become the focus of non-official organisations. To disturb the life of Delhi is, therefore, to build a deadly blow to the very life of the community throughout India. It is also cutting the lifeline through which alone can the free flow of refugees be sustained.
Let each one of you, therefore, calmly reflect on the part which you are playing in your respective spheres and outside, and whether the consequences of such actions, as you might be taking, are promoting the object we all have at heart, or whether they are hindering the task of saving the lives or reliving the sufferings of lakhs of our people.
We have been sitting from day to day, engaged in setting various points which clog our machine or retard our progress. Our normal departmental responsibilities have ceased to interest us. All of you can, therefore, serve us best by ensuring that the peace of the city is maintained at all costs, that its normal life flows with the same evenness as before, and that its peaceful citizens are thereby enabled to organise themselves for the life-saving task which is as much theirs as that of their government.
I shall not disguise the fact that many of you are labouring under a sense of grievance and discontentment at our shortcomings. But you have got to remember that the flood overtook us at a time when the government of East Punjab was yet to be formed, and the central government was suddenly faced with a serious shortage of officers and men to manage normal administrative machinery.
The transition period everywhere is a period of instability, and the transfer of power, even in the best of circumstances, is always attended with many dislocations and adjustments. If to these circumstances you add the coincidence of a great upheaval and the rising of a problem of huge dimensions, you can realise the tremendous shock that the administrative machinery has received. Further, our normal communications, which had been worn out by the wartime strain, have been attacked and dislocated. This has interfered with our evacuation programme and accentuated our food problem as well.
Ruthlessness or rigour of repressive machinery of government can and has enabled us to gain a sudden improvement, but it is neither creditable to you nor to us to have recourse to such a distasteful course. Besides, this method would not bring about lasting results, and ultimately we would, I am sure, be faced with problems much more complicated and disturbing than those which immediately demand solution. This is hardly time to apportion blame.
Let us not, therefore, concentrate on mutual fault-finding, but on mutual assistance, so that we can, each one of us, lend our hand to the speedy solution of the vast problems, which an evacuation virtually amounting to mass exchange of population entails. The bitterness of sufferings, the sorrow of losses, the despair of quick results, and the distress at the seemingly slow pace of progress would be submerged by the overriding need of concerted action. We can take account of these later.
Let us get on with the job in the hope that we will do it well, and the faith that despite the shock which the whole organization has received from the recent disturbances, we shall acquit ourselves credibly in one of the great rescue projects of history. Jai Hind.
This is part of ThePrint’s Great Speeches series. It features speeches and debates that shaped modern India.